Coherence Gated Doppler for Dentistry

AbstractIf there were a simple and accurate means totake the pulseof a toothi efunctionally similar to a pulse oximeter that could be clipped on a tooth rather than the tip of a fingerthe quality and cost of dental care would be significantly improvedThe ability to measure dental pulp blood flow provides the most direct means to determine the viability of a tooth and is a vital piece of information required for nearly all dental management decisionsIt is an unmet need identified in NIDCD s PAConventional blood flow detection approaches are precluded by the rigid structure of teeth and the invariant volume of vascular space within the root of the toothTo circumvent the latter constraint we combined principles from two separate modern optical technologieslaser Doppler and coherence gated tomographyto create a hybrid technology with unique capabilitiescoherence gated DopplerCGDUS PatentBut the challenge for dentists is not just the certainty of information on whether a tooth is viable or notbut in the prompt access to that informationThe dentist can wait until the signs of death becomes clear before making a therapeutic decisionBut the delayed action can have significant negative consequences for preserving functionExamples include bone resorption caused by chronic infection requiring expensive and time consuming bone grafts if the tooth is to be replaced by an implantgreater instability if that tooth is to be left in place after receiving endodontic therapyand unnecessary paincostand time for repeat office visits by the patientCurrent standard of practice has evolved to a suboptimal compromise between diagnostic certainty and promptness of interventionIf high diagnostic accuracy can be provided painlesslyat low cost within minutes by the dental assistantit will have a profound impact on dentistryThe broad goal of this STTR application is to demonstrate the feasibility oftransmission modeCGD as such a technologySpecificallythis phase I project will determine whether CGD has the sensitivity and specificity to detect blood flow within the root of a tooth while rejecting any flow signal from outside the toothThis proof of concept demonstration will be carried out in freshly extracted teeth and in a ferret canine teeth animal modelFurthermorethe performance of CGD will be compared against the predicate laser Doppler flowmetry technology Project NarrativeThe ability totake the pulseof teeth will allow dentists to make the appropriate clinical decisions with confidence and in a timely mannerThis will improve the clinical outcomelessen the painand decrease the expense for the patientIt will also enable investigators to monitor in close to real time the natural history of a dental pathology and its response to therapeutic interventions